Matt’s Musings

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

(2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)

As we close the book on 2014 and open a new one with 2015, it is my prayer that as indi-

viduals and also as a church family, we would cling to the truth of Scripture for all who are

“in Christ:” The old has passed away and God is calling us to a brighter future. For all be-

lievers, our former way of doing things has been replaced with a new way of doing things:

A commitment to Christ and not our old sins and bad habits, a desire to serve others and

not just ourselves, a heart for reconciliation and not division. Each believer is a new crea-

tion!

However, even as believers, we still experience frustrations, hurts, and failures. Let us

leave them all in 2014, where they belong. And let us enter 2015 turning “a new leaf.”

Happy New Year to all!

“A New Leaf”

He came to my desk with quivering lip—

The lesson was done.

“Dear Teacher, I want a new leaf,” he said,

“I have spoiled this one.”

I took the old leaf, stained and blotted,

And gave him a new one all unspotted,

And into his sad eyes smiled,

“Do better, now, my child.”

I went to the throne with a quivering soul—

The old year was done.

“Dear Father, hast Thou a new leaf for me?

I have spoiled this one.”

He took the old leaf, stained and blotted,

And gave me a new one all unspotted,

And into my sad heart smiled,

“Do better, now, my child.”

—Kathleen Wheeler _________________________________

Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (p. 1486). Garland, TX:

Bible Communications, Inc.

January, 2015

COLUMNS

First Baptist Church

421 Park Avenue Omaha, NE 68131 PH: 402-345-5009

Email: office@omahafbc.org www.omahafbc.org

STAFF Matt Toupin, Lead Pastor Kyle Stanek, Youth Pastor

Gabe Freeman, Worship Leader

Jim & Karla Musick, Music Directors Phyllis Porter,

Office Manager Ben Martinez,

Building Superintendent

SUNDAY SERVICES

9:45am Sunday School for all ages 11am Worship in the Sanctuary 12pm Coffee Fellow ship in the Parlor 4:30pm MESA Español 5:30pm Café MESA 6:30om MESA Young Adults

Always Be Faithful in Prayer

Beverly Tompkins, Wanda Chandler, Nancy Clatterbuck, Velta Henson, Bob Snyder, Pat Buie, Pauline Borromeo, Connie Payne, Charlene Howard, Vida Crosby, Inez Edwards.

Special prayers for Connie Payne who has recently been moved to the Josie Harper Hospice House. Also, remember Jack and his two daughters.

Our men and women who serve our country here at home and overseas.

Our kids and youth.

The staff of FBCO and the members of the Cabinet.

Pray for continued growth of the American Karen Baptist Congre-gation that meets in our sanctuary every Sunday!

Pray for the new MESA ministry as we reach out to the Young Adults and Spanish-speakers in our neighborhood.

Com m unit y Feast And Musical Celebrat ion

The second Community Feast and Musical Celebration was held

on December 14. This outreach event was made possible by a

Matthew 25 Grant which was provided by the American Baptist

Churches USA. A special meal was served to 210 Honored

Guests and gift cards to local restaurants were distributed to

each guest. Movies were played in the Sanctuary during the

second meal and everyone joined together for a musical celebra-

tion at the end of the evening. The Sanctuary and Fellowship

Hall were beautifully decorated which added to the festivity.

Our Honored Guests included people who attend our Commu-

nity Meal on Saturdays, people who live in the neighborhood,

people from the American Karen Baptist Church, people who

read the article about First Baptist Church of Omaha (FBCO) in

the Omaha World Herald, people from businesses that made

contributions, and the congregation of FBCO. It was a time for

God to bring people together from all walks of life to share a

meal, talk, laugh, watch movies, and sing familiar Christmas

songs. It was a blessing to see the smiles on the faces of our

Honored Guests.

This year FBCO prepared and cooked the meal which provided

several additional opportunities to serve the Lord and grow as a

church family. The congregation stepped up to the plate and

worked together as a team to provide a delicious feast. Thank

you for all of your hard work. God was with us every step of

the way from the planning stage to the cleanup stage, both in

obvious ways such as businesses making contributions and more

subtle ways such as God nudging people to serve. God put the

right people in the right places at the right time with the right

talents to orchestrate an amazing outreach event (something

only He could accomplish). People of all ages were involved

from our young children to our senior

adults and every person’s contribution

was critical to the successful outcome of

this event. As we work together and use

the special talents God has given us, we

become an awesome team that can ac-

complish great things for the Lord and

that’s exactly what happened on December 14. We don’t know

how many of our Honored Guests we will see again or how

many will accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior but we

do know that for one brief evening, our Honored Guests were

warm, full, and part of a family. A snippet of an email from one

of our Honored Guests describes the impact of the outreach

event on his family.

“…It was by far the warmest reception we have re-

ceived in a church….The time was truly of the Christ-

mas spirit and we were greatly blessed from all the

efforts of the members there…”

I pray we will be faithful to the Lord’s calling as we continue to

reach out to the people in Midtown Omaha and beyond. Thank

you for your investment in the Kingdom. I know God is smiling

on all of the volunteers that assisted with this event. Well done

congregation of First Baptist Church of Omaha!

Jeri Shelor

Team Leader, Stewardship and Finance

Thank you to Pastor Matt and the First Baptist Church family for all their calls, cards and prayers during Jim’s illness and funeral and my sister’s funeral. I feel very blessed to be part of this special church fam-ily.

Pat Fitl

Our dear Sister-in Christ, Marge Braman, went home to her Heavenly Father on December 11th. A memorial ser-vice for Marge was held on December 18th at the Braman Mortuary with Pastor Matt officiating.

Electric Wednesdays Children Give A

Big Thank You To: Christina Atkins for directing their presentation of

"Unplugged Christmas" on Dec. 10th and to Dave Ku-lisek for his expert help with lighting and sound. Our First Baptist Family for being our audience.

Jan Walden, assisted by Lynne Chesire, for organiz-ing the "Christmas Wrap" on Dec. 17th; to Youth and Adults who helped as personal shoppers and gift wrappers.

Our First Baptist Family, once again, for its generos-ity in providing all the items the children selected and wrapped for their families.

$90,000

$80,000

$50,000

$40,000

$30,000

$20,000

$10,000

$0

Capital Fund Drive

November 2014 Progress Report

July 2012 - June 2015

$60,000

$70,000

Goal - $100,000

Contributions - $70,490

Expenses - $56,014

Amount Needed To Attain

Goal - $29,510

Category November YTD YTD Budget

Income $15,580 $147,969 X

Expenses $15,539 $187,398 $209,691

Variance $40 -$39,429 $22,293

* Excludes non-budget, self-supporting, and designated categories

FBCO Finance Update

November 2014

Current Operating Income And Expenses *

$0

$5,000

$10,000

$15,000

$20,000

$25,000

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov

Do

lla

rs

Month

2014 Monthly Operating Income And Expenses

Income Expenses

Community Feast And Musical Celebration

Business Appreciation

We would like to thank the following businesses for providing financial

support, discounts, or special services; advertising; or donating food or

gift cards for the Community Feast and Musical Celebration on Decem-

ber 14.

Bag ‘N Save Omaha Compound

Company

5101 Harrison Street 2001 Nicholas Street

Baker’s Omaha World Herald

888 South Saddle Creek Road 1314 Douglas Street

Bronco’s Family Restaurant Orkin

4540 Leavenworth Street 2430 South 156th Circle

Domino’s Pizza Romeo’s Mexican Food And

Pizza

2728 Saint Marys Avenue 2929 Farnam Street

11-Worth Café Rotella’s Italian Bakery, Inc.

2419 Leavenworth Street 6949 South 108th Street

Heartland Awning & Design Runza

14550 Grover Street 2952 Farnam Street

Hy-Vee Spaces Apartments

5150 Center Street 501 Park Avenue

McGill Asbestos Abatement Co.,

Inc.

Supermercado

Nuestra Familia

4205 South 33rd Street 2900 Leavenworth Street

On the Table… Are you a young adult (or young adult at heart) looking for a way to get connected at First Baptist Church? Then MESA is for you! We meet Sunday nights at 5:30pm for a light meal and then do Bible study and worship at 6:30pm. MESA Servicio en Español is also up and running, every Sunday at 4:30pm. This is a special Bible study time for Spanish-speakers and anyone interested in partnering in mission to our Latino community here in Midtown. Please pray for this ministry as it starts to grow. Follow us on Facebook at the new “MESA at FBCO” page. Watch for updates on signing up to bring food and what’s happening in general right there! MESA is a new ministry and we need lots of help! Are you inter-ested in reaching the neighborhood with the gospel, helping with music, working with young adults, using your Spanish, set-ting up, cleaning up, running A/V, etc., etc.? Then contact Pastor Matt or Adam Cleveland and we will get you connected! Many thanks to Ken Pierce and Garion Dochstader, who have already answered the call!

Thanks everyone for your support of this innovative

new ministry!

Library News Pre-Teens: Check out these new DVD’s! Jesus, He Lived Among Us-animated (Includes English and Spanish audio and subtitles)

Heroes of the Faith—The Corrie Ten Boom Story

Heroes of the Faith—The Augustine Story

Heroes of the Faith—The Amy Carmichael Story

Heroes of the Faith—The Samuel Morris Story

Heroes of the Faith—The Richard Wurmbrand

Story

Heroes of the Faith—The William Booth Story

All of the above DVD’s are animated.

A Big Thank You to Joe Mettenbrink who donated

these DVD’s! Adult Fiction The Ambition by Lee Strobel

The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado

The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans

A Reluctant Queen (story of Esther) by Joan Wolf

Old Rugged Cross by Catherine Ritch Guess

Threads of Hope by Christa Allan

Kingscote by Linda Chaikin

Religion & Politics Restoring At-Risk Communities by John M. Perkins

Lifeviews (Making a Christian Impact on Culture & Society by R.C. Sproul

Christian Ethics (in a Postmodern World by James P. Eckman

Hidden History by Melody Carlson

Christian Living—Women Ransomed (Loving Yourself from the Inside Out) by

Barbara Marshall

January Birthdays

7—Nancy Clatterbuck

13– Marvene Lutz

14– Sandy Richeson

16—Gabe Freeman

19—John Stenzel

20—Claire Wing

20—Pam Thompson

22—Carolyn Evans

23—Willi Treu

26—Ariadne Cleveland & Daniel Perez

27—Jack Payne

29—Terra Friis

30—Robert Snyder & Aiden Whaley

January Anniversaries

6—Jason & Christine Ferrell

16—Fred & Jeanne Shelor

Welcome to First Baptist Church! There’s a lot going on around Here, and here are just some of the ways you can get con-nected...

Annual Meeting

And Potluck Dinner

The Annual Meeting for members of First Baptist Church, Omaha, is January 18. There will be a pot-luck dinner served right after the Worship Service fol-lowed with the business meeting. All are encouraged to attend this important event as we will be two major items to vote on. One is the report of the Nominating Committee and the other report is the budget for 2015.

Food Distribution is as follows: A-J dessert K-P side dish R-Z main dish

Midtown “Meet and Greet” Make plans now to attend an exciting afternoon,

January 31st from 3pm to 6pm. This is an opportu-

nity to meet our new neighbors in the SPACES

Apartments just north of our church. There will

be local vendors, a health fair, refreshments and

FUN! This event will be held in Fellowship Hall!

Upcoming Events 07—Electric Wednesdays Activities Resume starting at 6:15!

18—Annual Meeting following the Worship Service in the Fellowship Hall. 31—”Meet & Greet” with SPACES neighbors, (3pm-6pm) in Fellowship Hall.

WEEKLY MINISTRIES

SUNDAYS

9:45AM SUNDAY SCHOOL (ALL AGES)

11:00AM WORSHIP

4:30PM MESA SERVICIO EN ESPAÑOL

5:30PM CAFÉ MESA

6:30PM MESA YOUNG ADULTS

WEDNESDAYS 6:15PM CHURCH FAMILY DINNER

7:00PM ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS, YOUTH, AND ADULTS

SATURDAYS

11:30AM COMMUNITY MEAL (FREE)

CHURCH OFFICE HOURS

MONDAY-THURSDAY, 1:00-4:00PM

OTHER TIMES BY APPOINTMENT

(CALL 402-345-5009 OR EMAIL OFFICE@OMAHAFBC.ORG)